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Tip of the day! These are amazing!

User Centrix Racing take victory in Club 100 Rookie Enduro with Peter Jankowski, Oliver Hall and Martin Garnett. Fantastic effort from the whole team!

#winners

Some photos from Rd.6 at Whilton Mill where I moved solidly into the top 10 in the HW Sprint Championship.

Race Report: Club100 HW Sprints, Rd. 6 - Whilton Mill

Driver: Peter Jankowski

I started the year with a goal of a top-20 finish but with continual improvement top-10 has looked more and more within reach. Coming into this round in 11th place in the standings my targets were now higher. I wanted an average top-10 finish over both races.

This was my most measured qualifying session to date I was absolutely focused on every corner and the traffic around me. I bode my time and backed out of three flaps in the session to give myself good space for a couple of flying runs. There were 24 karts on track and so this was fairly difficult. I finished my session in 7th which put me 13th on the grid directly into the A-Finals.

The first A-Final was tough but I was absolutely determined. I must finish in the top-10. I made up 3 places on the first lap with a flying start, a wall of death around the outside of turn 2 and then a pretty wild dive into the hairpin. I was up in 10th but over the next two laps lost out to a low starting Russell Endean and one other driver. The last 8 or so laps were spent equally hounding 11th place whilst defending 12th where I finished. Enduro teammate, Steve Crutchley took pole and steamed off into the lead to take the win.

I had set a decent lap in the previous race which qualified me up to 8th on the fourth row. If I could maintain 8th I would achieve my average top-10 finish. I had another flying start and put in a very aggressive but controlled first lap, moving up to 6th. From here on I was in the race of my career so far. I was racing at the front of the field on pure merit and had the ability to fight with and keep up with the people around me. All of a sudden I felt like a racing driver. I had a four way fight to defend sixth all the way to the line. At one point I fell back to 7th but not more than for a couple of corners and then I was on the bumper of 5th place finishing just 0.25s behind.

Results:

Driver: Peter Jankowski

Qualifying: A-Final P13 A-Final 1: 12/24 from P13 A-Final 2: 6/26 from P8

Championship position: 6/72

Race Report: Club100 Premier/Clubman Endurance, Rd. 6 - Whilton Mill

Yes, you read that correctly. Today we raced in Premier/Clubman class. These are the best and most experienced guys in Club 100 and we normally wouldn't share track time with them other than in testing. We had not got our registration in in time for the Rookie class but were given a special allowance to race in the top tier. We were never going to come away with a high result but this was a fantastic opportunity to try and keep up with 30 other teams and also to try and learn something along the way. We were not quite on yesterday's pace in testing which made us think that our kart was a little off of the pace but it didn't matter. We would give it all we could and try to wring as much performance out as we could. Our quickman, Steve Crutchley got us off the mark, qualifying in 25th and running the first 15 minute stint. He had some great battles at the back of the pack, first losing out and then pulling some places back. By the time he came in we had fallen back a little from our starting position and then Amala jumped in for his first run, followed by Pete. Our pace was generally quite good but these drivers are serious stuff. They just don't make any mistakes. If we were keeping with them then we would have a little twitch, a small lockup, go a little wide and fall back. You just couldn't leave anything on the table. What was also great was the cleanliness of the racing. No barging, no loading into the corners and no dangerous chopping. The drivers that we were racing had long since left those antics behind them. Pete ran the last stint to take us to the line and it was a battle from beginning to end. Hounded for 15 laps, he eventually lost a position he had defended heavily before regaining it on the penultimate lap and battling successfully to hold it all the way to the flag. This was an absolutely invaluable experience and I am certain that we all made a lot of progress today. We are certainly all fired up for the sprints tomorrow where we will be racing against each other and trying to consolidate or move up in the championship.

Results

Drivers: Peter Jankowski, Steven Crutchley, Amala Ejikeme Qualifying: 25/31 Race: 28/31

Video from Rd.4 at Ellough Park

I start two rows ahead on the left. Flouro shoulders and white helmet. What a start! I picked up 6 places by the exit of turn three, hanging it around the outside of 1 and 2. Feel sorry for Mr. French, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ip0TSrZL5Ew

Race Report: Club 100 HW Sprints, Rd. 5 - Clay Pigeon

Could I continue to move up the championship board? Having practiced and then raced Enduro in the dry earlier in the weekend, I arrived at a soggy and rainy Clay Pigeon. I had just learnt the track so going out in the wet was unknown territory. As I hit the circuit the rain stopped and the track slowly began to produce scattered dry patches. I spent a few laps hunting around for grip off-line which might perhaps give me an advantage and then settled into qualli mode. My approach worked as I qualified straight into the A-Final in 13th position, which I was extremely happy with.

The kart I had for the first, and now dry, A-Final was very much lacking in straight-line speed. Had the rain stayed, this would not have been an issue but it meant that I had to drive a defensive race from lights to flag. My fastest lap was the slowest of all competitors which meant that I was racing the people behind me, rather than those in front of me. I managed to hold off the field and only slipped back two positions. An exhausting task which was frustrating for my chasers.

My low speed meant that I would sit 20th on the grid in my second A-Final. I landed the same kart, but it had been improving as it was run-in over the day. This time I had to move forward. A fantastic fight and some very hard and close racing moved me forward to 15th.

Another great round for me and I feel that if I had a quicker kart i the first race that both my results would have been in the top 10. Looking forward to Rd.6 at Whilton Mill International Kart Circuit.

Results

Driver: Peter Jankowski Qualifying: A-Final P13 A-Final 1: 15/24 from P13 A-Final 2: 15/26 from P20

Championship position: 11/68

Race Report: Club100 Inter/Rookie Endurance, Rd. 5 - Clay Pigeon

This was the first entry under the newly formed team of User Centrix Racing. Drivers for 2013 include Peter Jankowski, Steve Crutchley and Amala Ejikeme.

We were confident of a podium going into the race with some great pace in practice and qualifying. There were only 15 hundredths of a second separating the times of the top six qualifiers and Steve's time, unfortunately put us at the back of that pack. You can rely on Steve to move forward when he has the pace and by the time the first stint was over he came back in in second place and had closed the gap to Team DGB, who were leading. From here, our race fell apart through a mixture of causing and being victims of on-track incidents. After I got knocked out twice and both Amala and Steve got a drive-through penalty we found ourselves nearly ten lap down at the end. In our second stints of the race we had essentially abandoned the competition and were practicing for Sunday's sprint event. To underline our potential, Steve banged in the fastest lap of the race, and an impressive lap it was too.

Enduro is a different ball game to the Sprints entirely and I am sure we will improve once we have got a rhythm as a team. We are definitely going to be on the hunt for some silverware before the season is out. Perhaps as soon as the next round at Whilton Mill.

Race Report: Club100 Sprints, Rd.4 - Ellough Park

Encouraged by the end pace on Saturday, I arrived back at a sunny Ellough Park Raceway. Today was to be a bit different. Ellough is very remote and so turnout was low. This meant that no B-Finals were run and the A-Finals ran with a packed grid of 28 drivers. I had two great races, qualifying at the front of the mid-pack and moving forward on both occasions. Everyone I finished behind was faster and I kept some quicker drivers behind. There is work to do on my pace but my race craft is doing me well. I managed to scare two battling drivers ahead into cracking and spinning out and called a lot of double bluffs to keep drivers behind. With every race I seem to find a little more headspace which allows me to improve. Next stop is Clay Pigeon. Another virgin track for me but hoping to maintain my run of improving at every round.

Results

Driver: Peter Jankowski Qualifying: A-Final P10 A-Final 1: 8/28 from P10 A-Final 2: 11/28 from P14 Championship position: 13/67

Entered British 24hr, 2013 at Teesside in August

I have accepted an invite to re-join Team Tom for the British 24hr this year. We were fifth in class in 2012 but hope to hunt for a podium this time round.

#karting #british 24 hour #teesside

Race Report: Club100 Sprints, Rd.3 - Rye House

On Friday a reminder of the dangers and on Sunday a brilliant race and a great birthday present.

We'll start with Friday: Flat out on the main straight in the glorious sunshine, lining myself up to turn into the flat out turn one, and then hail. Hail appeared immediately at the point of turn in and within a blink the tarmac was a sea of bouncing crystals of ice. this was the scariest moment yet for me. I went into the barriers at high speed bouncing my head off of the tyre wall and giving myself whiplash in the process. I will be buying a neck brace, shortly.

Now, Sunday. After having progressed to the A-Finals at Bayford and having set good practice times on Friday I wanted nothing less today. I qualified 12th in my group which put me in 4th in B-Group (I have qualified in this position every round) and I only had to maintain a top four finish to move up to the A-Finals. I moved up to 3rd for most of the race and fell back to 4th later on, but I had done it!

Onwards to the first A-Final, I felt like I deserved to be there. I had a great start and spent the entire race chasing people down and passing them. My driving was better than it has ever been and I moved up from 24th (dead last) to finish 15th. Not only that, my best laptime qualified me 7th on the grid for the 2nd A-Final.

7th! Now I felt really out of place. How did I get here? Had i driven this well? Apparently I had, and I needed to do more of the same. could I at least hold my position and finish top-10? I battled for position at the start, having to rather roughly defend my 7th spot. I then proceeded to chase down 6th place and was comfortably reeling him in. An overambitious dive into hairpin two cost me all momentum and 8th and 9th place. Not quite sure where I was, then, I hounded the guys in front to the line to later find out i had finished 10th.

A damned fine days work and a massive pay-off for the effort I have been putting in. The next round at Ellough Park cannot come soon enough. It looks like I may have a drive in the Endurance there, too.

#rye house #club100 #karting

Race Report: Club100 HW Sprints, Rd.2 - Bayford Meadows

What a day! My target this year is to try to progress into the A-Finals more often than not after having done so only once in the 6 rounds I raced in last year. I felt fresh after a good night's sleep in the Premier Inn and a good early breakfast to boot. I had done the customary track-walk of 'Official' Bayford Meadows Kart Circuit and was calm and ready. Suit up, briefing, blah blah, qualifying. As I went out on track I felt immediate confidence. The first proper dry running of the year and for the first time I could let loose. I had the closest and most competitive racing yet putting in three solid races and getting my full money's worth. I feel like I'm improving all the time and the results are starting to show it. So much fun and I hope for a nice sunny day at Rye House Kart Track on my Birthday in two week's time. Here follows my best result to date which takes me up from 30th to 22nd in the championship.

Qualifying: B-Final P4

B-Final 1: P4 (repêchage to A-Final)

A-Final 1: 21/24 from P24

A-Final 2: 20/26 from P23

#bayford meadows #karting #club100

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Senaca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

#quotes motivation

Won't be racing at Rd.2, Clay Pigeon

Have had to drop out of Rd.2 of the Club100 60 Minute Challenge due to being out of the country. I'm OK dropping this one as I've not raced at the Clay Pigeon Circuit before, so I don't expect it to be a strong one for me. On a positive, I have booked myself in for some more Club100 punishment at Buckmore on the 10th March and so will get a solid hour on the track before I hit the jetset.

#club100 #clay pigeon #60 minute challenge

Race Report: Club100 HW Sprints, Rd.1 - Buckmore Park

Today was brilliant. I was looking to step up and I felt like I did. From the outset in practice I felt quick and full of confidence and was getting through other drivers pretty quickly. I qualified 4th in the first B final, narrowly missing out on qualification for the A final. The race started well, despite falling back one poisition to 5th but then got taken out by a panicking back-marker when lapping. This dropped me back a long way but I fought my way back to 13th. Sollace from this was that my fastest lap in the first race had qualified me 2nd in second B final. The first half of the race, after losing a couple of places down the inside of turn 1, was almost entirely defensive meaning that I lost touch with the leaders a little. Once I had stopped battling for 5th and eventually conceded the position I started to reel the leaders back in. I eventually finished in the 5th spot and only 10 seconds down from the front. I was so very close to moving up to A finals on all three available occasions but didn't quite get there. I felt like a proper racing driver today and the improvement was noted by some of my competitors and friends in the championship.

#karting #club100 #buckmore park

Race Report: Club100 Enduro, Rd.1 - Buckmore Park

Not much to say. I was a stand-in driver for this round replacing a guy who had had the misfortune to break his arm. the three of us used the session as a test gaining lost confidence in time off and trying and practising a few new techniques. We were suitable quick to be competitive but our approach to the time we had on track meant that we were pointing the wrong way too much to be in real contention for anything. We finished 18th of 35 overall and each made good progress over the session.

#club100 #karting #buckmore park

Race Report: Club100 60 Minute Challenge, Rd 1 - Buckmore Park

The worst imaginable conditions but a fantastic challenge. Again, I'm proving to have a bit of a nack in the wet and adverse/changeable conditions. Yesterday I spent 3hours on track with half of that spent in rain and the other half (the main event) in blizzard-like snowfall with cutting strong winds. I was up near the top of the timing boards all through practice. I didn't spot the Union Flag and was still experimenting through quali, not knowing I was actually driving for my grid spot. The result of that was a mediocre lap and a start from p22. This was going to be a race of physical and mental endurance but I also felt it was going to be war of attrition. We lost three drivers after quali due to the inhospitable weather. I got my race head on and prepared for a measured challenge. Keeping it on track would be key. By lap 10 I had made my way from 22nd to 7th. A lone spin, quickly recovered, and then in for an early pitstop. This brought me back out in 21st with a stop in hand. I fought my way through, with very consistent times, picked my battles (@Isaac Driver would be proud). I got myself back up to 12th before I got myself a 20s penalty for clipping the tail-end of an incident. In the end, this cost me nothing. 11th was insurmountable and 13th was a lap down. By now it was fully dark with no visibility and no fingers or toes. All I had to do was get to the end. I got there and solidified 12th of 37 as my best 60 min challenge result to date. I still can't feel the ends of my fingers this morning but am happy with what I coincident to be a smashing start to my 2013 campaign. Back at Buckmore in two weeks for Enduro on Sat and 1st round of sprints on Sunday. Stay tuned!

#karting #club100 #buckmore park

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